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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Some stories are lovely; some are downright creepy. Gaiman demonstrates skill in a wide range of styles, from prose poem to sestina (on vampires!) to fairy tale to horror. I really enjoyed it.
This is my second Neil Gaiman short story collection that I have read, and I have to say that I enjoyed it much more than the first. The stories were very well curated and the book felt like a cohesive whole. All the stories shared a magical yet disturbing atmosphere that felt beutiful and immersive. I listened to the audiobook read by Neil Gaiman himself, and hearing his beautiful voice reading his stories the way he intended tham to be read was probably the main reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did. As with his other short story collection the stories were a bit hit or miss for me, but I really enjoyed enough of them for it to be worth the read. My favorites were: Goldfish Pool, The White Road, We Can Get Them for You Wholesale, The Sweeper of Dreams, and Babycakes
Several great stories, but noticeable weak points throughout.
Stories I recommend:
-The Wedding Present
-Don't Ask Jack
-Changes
-Nicholas Was
-We can Get That Wholesale
-Only The End of The World Again
Stories I recommend:
-The Wedding Present
-Don't Ask Jack
-Changes
-Nicholas Was
-We can Get That Wholesale
-Only The End of The World Again
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
When he's good, he's good. But sometimes the weirdness and Neil Gaimaniness is too strained and I can't enjoy it. I don't like it when an author is hyper-aware of himself and his image and tries to cater to that. My favorite story, by the way, was We Can Get The For You Wholesale, and The Price. There's a pretty sweet short film made about it: http://vimeo.com/56573423
This is the second book of short stories I've read by Neil Gaiman. The first was "Fragile Things". This one is much older than "Fragile Things", having been published a good eight years before. While they're both anthologies of stories that Gaiman has written throughout his career, I think it's probably a safe assumption that most of the stories in Smoke and Mirrors are older.
Which really shows, I think. Though there are certainly some mighty fine stories in this collection ("Chivalry", "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories", "We Can Get Them From You Wholesale", "The Sweeper of Dreams", and "Murder Mysteries" are the fantastic standouts), the overall quality seems much rougher. As a sort of testament to that, I found myself skipping some of the poetry in this one as opposed to "Fragile Things" where the poems are every bit as enticing as the prose stories.
Noticeably, it seems like almost all of the stories in this book feature sex: and it's usually creepy and disturbing sex. So, be warned: there's a lot in here that just made me uncomfortable*. I don't remember sex being such a big deal in the later volume (though I could be mistaken and the sex was either not as disturbing or the writing was so much better that I didn't notice it).
It's certainly unfair for me to judge this book harshly by comparing it to the one that came after. It's only natural that an author would improve his craft over six years of constant writing, after all. But I can't help it. I read these out of order and I'm a human being subject to cognitive biases just like everyone else. That's just the way it is.
If you're thinking of reading this and you haven't read "Fragile Things", put this one on the shelf for a while and pick that one up. If I'd read "Smoke and Mirrors" first, I don't think I'd have moved on to the other.
*I don't find the topic of sex to be uncomfortable, as a rule. But dark, creepy sex? That's not my style. I prefer sex, even literary sex, to be light and airy and happy and enjoyable. Your milage may vary, of course.
Which really shows, I think. Though there are certainly some mighty fine stories in this collection ("Chivalry", "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories", "We Can Get Them From You Wholesale", "The Sweeper of Dreams", and "Murder Mysteries" are the fantastic standouts), the overall quality seems much rougher. As a sort of testament to that, I found myself skipping some of the poetry in this one as opposed to "Fragile Things" where the poems are every bit as enticing as the prose stories.
Noticeably, it seems like almost all of the stories in this book feature sex: and it's usually creepy and disturbing sex. So, be warned: there's a lot in here that just made me uncomfortable*. I don't remember sex being such a big deal in the later volume (though I could be mistaken and the sex was either not as disturbing or the writing was so much better that I didn't notice it).
It's certainly unfair for me to judge this book harshly by comparing it to the one that came after. It's only natural that an author would improve his craft over six years of constant writing, after all. But I can't help it. I read these out of order and I'm a human being subject to cognitive biases just like everyone else. That's just the way it is.
If you're thinking of reading this and you haven't read "Fragile Things", put this one on the shelf for a while and pick that one up. If I'd read "Smoke and Mirrors" first, I don't think I'd have moved on to the other.
*I don't find the topic of sex to be uncomfortable, as a rule. But dark, creepy sex? That's not my style. I prefer sex, even literary sex, to be light and airy and happy and enjoyable. Your milage may vary, of course.
With a lot of poetry and some very twisted stories we get this collection of Neil Gaiman's shorter stories. I'll be the first to admit my disdain for the poetry genre and will confess that after the first poetry styled story, I skipped the rest.
Gaiman always reminds me of the Grimm brothers for the adult audience. I forget how vivid and real his stories are after reading Stardust, a much more PG embodiment of his imagination.
I had a few definite favourites in the novel, "Troll Bridge", a modern reworking of the old Billy Goats and troll under the bridge tale, "The Price" which told of the battles of the family cat for his family and many more which slip the mind at the moment.
While a somewhat jarring read as each story seems to have no relation to the next, it was a very worthy read and one I would recommend.
Gaiman always reminds me of the Grimm brothers for the adult audience. I forget how vivid and real his stories are after reading Stardust, a much more PG embodiment of his imagination.
I had a few definite favourites in the novel, "Troll Bridge", a modern reworking of the old Billy Goats and troll under the bridge tale, "The Price" which told of the battles of the family cat for his family and many more which slip the mind at the moment.
While a somewhat jarring read as each story seems to have no relation to the next, it was a very worthy read and one I would recommend.
I'm not the intented market for Neil Gaiman. The only reason I read this was because my 14yo daughter wanted to read it and because it was shelved in my local library in the adult section, I thought it would be the responsible thing to read it first. Since it is a book of short stories, I found that many of them were inappropriate for her, and I may let her read a few. But I think my biggest objection is not the adult situations, but the lack of completeness in many of the stories. Some have only first acts. Some might get as far as a second, but few follow standard three act structure. They seem to be just snapshots of disturbing or eery or supernatural ideas and I got tired of this pretty quickly. But like I said, I'm not the right reader. Gaiman doesn't write for sunny dispositions, optimists or those looking for encouragement. And since all of those are values I want my daughter to have, I may point her elsewhere to other authors for now. Gaiman can be all hers when she's older.
Liked 75% of the stories the rest were slow or strange
I have known the best stories from this collection already (the ones included in "M Is for Magic") and I feel like this one didn't offer me anything more. So yes, I'm disappointed.